India's National Calendar set up in 1957

India's cultural diversities are of eccentric proportions — even when it comes to counting days. Just imagine people in different part of the country using 30 different date systems! With so many different calendars, one might land up having a couple of new year celebrations every month!

Until 1957, when the government decided to put an end to this colossal confusion, about 30 different calendars were being used for arriving at the dates of various religious festivals among Hindus, Buddhist and Jains. These calendars were mostly based on the astronomical practices of local priests and "kalnirnayaks" or calendar makers. In addition, the Muslims followed the Islamic calendar, and the Gregorian calendar was used for administrative purposes by the government.

The current national calendar of India was set up in 1957 by the Calendar Reform Committee that formalized a lunisolar calendar in which leap years coincide with those of the Gregorian calendar, and the months are named after the traditional Indian months (see table). This reformed Indian calendar began with Saka Era, Chaitra 1, 1879, which corresponds to March 22, 1957.